Locations
Hey Church,
I’ve got some tough, good news to share with you today.
As the Westerville campus has continued to grow over the last several years, I’ve continued to grow as well. One thing that I have learned and continued to learn about myself is that I’m more of an apostolic kind of leader than a managerial kind of leader. I enjoy being with people, sharing the Gospel, praying with people, and caring for those in crisis more than I do managing the people who do those things.
I’ve been blessed and empowered by God to do those things here at the Westerville campus. My dream was that we would grow to about 800 people someday, and then plant churches/campuses. Well, at Easter this year we had almost 700 people! It is really exciting to think about what God might do here and ways that the Westerville campus might make an impact for God’s Kingdom!
The problem is that I have been living with an inner tension between the way that God has gifted me and the increasing responsibilities of our growing campus. I brought this up with our lead pastor more than two years ago. The reality is that I’d rather start something – a conversation, an opportunity, a ministry, and multiply myself into others – than I would administrate larger ministry systems. This past October I spent many hours talking this through with Dean and Troy in order to find what would be best for our church.
I have done a lot of soul-searching and seeking of the Lord. We’ve been praying with our team here at Westerville campus, as well as with Dean, our Lead Pastor. My family and I believe that God is moving us. It’s taken us some time to get there, but we believe it. I am going to make the move to join the Lifepoint team at our Lewis Center Campus as a Campus Life Pastor. Maybe a baseball analogy will help: I’m a third baseman, and I like playing third base. The next season of Lifepoint Westerville’s leadership is going to take a Head Coach. I don’t think I’m best suited for that role here in Westerville because I feel called to continue to play third base. I have that opportunity in this new role in Lewis Center.
My new role as Campus Life Pastor at our Lewis Center campus will allow me to do the things I love most: share the Gospel personally, teach across our campuses, create equipping bridge groups in the areas of apologetics and evangelism, and help at the new Lifepoint campus launching in Worthington. Some of you know that our family lives in Worthington, and my girls have attended Worthington schools (Carleigh still does). I’m excited to be of any help and encouragement to the team that will be ministering in Worthington. I am grateful for my time here and grateful for you and your love for me, Tam, and the girls; but I’m also excited about my upcoming season and where God is leading us.
I am sure that many of you are wondering what this means for the Westerville campus. After I let our leadership team know we were ready to make a transition, we began a nationwide search for someone to step into the role of Teaching Pastor at the Westerville campus. We are very excited to let you know that Matthew Angell has accepted the role and will be the teaching pastor at the Westerville campus. Matthew, his wife Brooke, and their two children will be moving here from Tampa over the next 6-8 weeks and should be here sometime in July. You will certainly hear more details about this wonderful family in the coming weeks.
Thank you so much for all of your love and support for my family! We will have a brief reception after each service on June 25th, which will be my last Sunday in this role.
Grace & Peace,
Ed Traverse
